Espectáculos Promociones Panama: Gemelos Infernales! Flamarion! Gran Darazín!

Gemelos Infernales vs Gran Darazín/Flamarion 1988

MD: Let's call this a palette cleanser. There's a chain match ahead of us. Plus, Los Gemelos Infernales show up all the time, a real staple in this footage, and I was hoping to learn something about them from Graham. So far my understanding has been that Gemelo I is a character and a stooge and Gemelo II is more of the smoother workrate guy. I have no idea what to make of Gemelo III. This was in three falls even though it was much shorter than many of the matches we've been seeing lately. My favorite part was the absolute mauling we got in the primera. It was only around three and a half minutes but it was non-stop and creative with the Gemelos ambushing the tecnicos from the start and just leaning on them with flip bombs, axehandles off the top (both standard and while a partner had someone up in a torture rack position), and basically just hitting them with every strike imaginable, finishing it with submissions, including the very rare foot assisted nelson stretch.

The segunda had comebacks and cutoffs. as they made the tecnicos work for it. Both guys had a nice over the shoulder throw. and Darazin flew in well with his headbutts. The back half of the match was spirited with a bunch of 2 on 1 spots. Sometimes the timing or placement seemed a little off, especially with Darazin and maybe the most interesting bit of all of it was the Gemelos jawing with the crowd, with their opponents, with the camera. In the end, the numbers game won out. Flamarion and Darazin were two wrestlers working together. The Gemelos were an incessant unit and they took the win with an assisted backbreaker (and I'm always a fan of one partner helping the other put their opponent in an otherwise improbable submission) and a standard over the shoulder one. This was a pretty good showcase for what made them stand out.

GB: Los Gemelos Infernales, the trios twins. While they never reached the public status of their more famous counterparts in Sandokan and el Idolo, they are still triumphantly remembered by many fans as a unit that revolutionised Panamanian wrestling. Not bad for three undersized kids from Darién, who had massive shoes to fill, coming from a family of professional jockeys and boxers.
 
Trios wrestling is nothing new. It’s been a staple of wrestling and, more importantly, lucha libre for generations. It’s a quick and easy solution that can often produce magic by accentuating the positives and hiding the flaws. It usually clicks. Likewise, in Panama, it was used as a way to get multiple wrestlers on a card and to advance multiple feuds at once. However, trios had often been just three luchadors tacked together. They might have some form of alliance but everyone worked mostly in a vacuum. There was no overall strategy and there had been no rush of ticket sales caused by a billboard headlined by a 3v3 encounter. 2v2? Sure, the Torneo Internacional de Parejas in 1977 was huge business and led to the historically important Guajardo/Idolo singles match - a Panamanian match that would change Mexican lucha libre forever. But 3v3? Nowhere close.

Everything changed in 1983 when Gemelo Infernal III debuted alongside his cousins, Infernal 1 and 2, against Mascara Roja, Gavilan de Oro and La Cobra. By this point, Primero and Segundo (actual brothers) had already been enjoying great success in the two years prior. Their own careers had started on the 3rd of October 1981 when Gemeos Infernales debuted for Samy de la Guardia’s Coliseos promotion (facing Tupac Amaru and Antorcha II - Sandokan’s brother). Seemingly much to Samy’s ire, the duo would quickly jump ship to their competition sensing a better future for themselves which, with the benefit of hindsight, I think is a fair assessment. There is a pretty strong through-line between them getting over and Don Medina using that success to book big trios programmes in the mid to late 80s. The first of two billboard blockbusters being Los Gemelos vs Kendo, Super Ratón and Negro Casas and then the Los Brazos invitational (where Gemelos, sans III due to his short stature, made it to the finals). They would go on to fight Brazo de Plata and Oro later in the year (around December, I believe) but the match on January 3rd was called off because of the Brazos being “botón pequeño”. I’m not sure of the colloquial meaning, sorry!

As outlined, trios wrestling was never cohesive until Los Gemelos turned Panamanian lucha on its head. There was (and *still is*!) a lot of internally consistent psychology to their matches, and it plays out here in this match we’re posting (if a little crude in the implementation). Gemelos were much smaller than their usual counterparts, often giving great weight away to their opponents (such as Ursus, Tahur etc), so they would ensure victory through relentlessly swarming their opponents. They were piranhas lost out in a sea of sharks. Ferocious, tenacious, they wouldn’t let their opponents breathe between blows. So much so, one of the biggest upsets of the 1980s was their 3-on-1 fight against the giant Tataki where they became the first wrestlers, anywhere in South America, to ever topple him. I forget which wrestler said it best but the words were “if you have one Gemelo, you have a chance. If you have all three? Forget about it”. And that’s true. They were incessant. Not quite the bloodthirsty maniac that Galvez was, but they would still fight to the death if it meant victory:

Their masks were simple, but poignant to their characters. They were hellhounds, beasts from the netherworld and that was beautifully crafted in their original masks seen on top:

Hidden above their eyebrows was a metal plating (some say platinum, others say plaster) that they would secretly use to their advantage on headbutts. With the referee distracted, they’d go for the kill. So integral was the mask to their success against bigger opponents that they would never bet their masks in apuestas. While Gemelo Infernal 1 had done so against Aguila Solitario (controversially taking the latter’s mask by having Infernal II, who was hidden under the ring, sneakily switching with him late into the match), the trios would rather put up their hair instead of their mask (losing their scalps to Dinastía Idolo, for instance). Without that plate, they knew their days were numbered at the top of the card. Quaintly, this rumor is something that they still deny to this day, saying it was a trait of the family to have “hard heads”. Though the rumors persist so much that the Guatemalan star, Verdugo, said he battled long and hard against the Gemelos, often having to “pry” their masks to dislodge the plating just to save his skin.

As I’ve outlined before, Panamanian wrestlers hardly travelled abroad as, unlike Mexico/Guatemala/Puerto Rico, they had to do so on their own dime and time without the help of their government or promoters. However, Gemelos Infernales took the leap in around 1987 with Joe Panther, making big splashes in Costa Rica and El Salvador where they would see their greatest success in beating both Kato Kung Lee and El Hijo del Santo. I have no doubt they would have seen great success in the UWA, if they had ever had the opportunity. Alas.

In an industry of shady characters, and as much as their personas paint otherwise, by all accounts, Gemelos Infernales are some of the good guys. The trio still live near each other, always willing to interact with their neighbours and help out with the local community whenever they can. They’re the life of the party wherever they may be. Just ask (very!) young Negro Casas: